


I Always Thought You Were Cool

by orphan_account



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Black & White | Pokemon Black and White Versions
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Author Is Doing His Best, Awkward Conversations, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Slow Burn, and ghetsis is in jail where he belongs, in which public education actually exists in the pokemon world, it's very briefly mentioned, kinda like a high school au but it takes place post-graduation, this is my first slow burn fic haha
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-26
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2020-02-04 19:36:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18611113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: After barely talking to each other in high school, Hilda and N meet again by chance.(5/10/2019: this fic won't be updated, sorry to disappoint the 40 people who actually read this lol)





	I Always Thought You Were Cool

**Author's Note:**

> Hilda and N have a disastrous conversation at the cafe which might just be the start of something wonderful.

Hilda looked around the crowded cafe, coffee in hand, looking for an empty table. She found none.  
She sighed, disappointed. She knew that, if she asked around, someone would probably let her sit with them, but she didn't feel like making small talk with strangers.  
Just as she was about to turn and leave, though, she saw a familiar face, sitting at the small table in the corner.  
It was a boy she had gone to school with. He was a year ahead of her, and they didn't talk much, but in Hilda's junior year, they were in the same art class, and he had had always seemed nice. He was also weird. But nice enough. She wasn't quite sure she remembered his name, though- it was something like… Natural? But that couldn't be right, could it? She knew a lot of people with some pretty interesting names, but Natural was stretching it. The few times they had talked, he had asked her to call him "N". She figured she should just go with that.  
_It would still be awkward to make small talk with him, but it would be easier than talking to a complete stranger, right?_ She thought to herself, as she walked over to his table.  
"Hi. It's N, right?" She said, smiling warmly. N nodded silently, clearly confused. "Um, I'm Hilda. From high school." More silence. "We were in art class together?"  
"Oh!" N finally responded, "Yes, I remember you. Sorry I didn't at first. High school…" He shuddered. "I try not to remember high school."  
Hilda laughed politely and N just stared at her. Oh. Maybe he wasn't joking.  
"Can I sit here?" She asked.  
"Sure."  
She sat down and there was yet another awkward silence.  
_Yknow, I'm starting to think it would have been easier to sit with a stranger._  
"So… Do you come here a lot?" Hilda asked. She was pretty sure she knew the answer, though- she was a regular at this cafe and she had never seen him here before.  
"Yes, I come here almost every day."  
"Really? Huh, me too. We must come in at different times, I've never seen you here before."  
"I've seen you here," He said, much to Hilda's surprise. "You usually sit over there, right? With your friends." He pointed to a larger table near the entrance which was, in fact, where Hilda usually sat, along with Bianca and Cheren (and whoever else happened to be joining them).  
She couldn't believe she had never spotted N. How do you miss an attractive, tall, green-haired boy sitting in the corner?  
… Wait, "attractive"? Why was that the first adjective that came to mind for him?  
Her train of thought was interrupted when N asked her, "So what have you been doing since high school, Hilda?"  
"Oh, uh, not a whole lot." She laughed nervously. "I'm still figuring things out. I'm thinking about becoming a Pokemon trainer, though."  
"... A trainer?" He said with clear disdain. "Hm."  
"Uh, what about you? What have you been up to?"  
"Like you, not much. I'm thinking about getting a job so my sisters and I can get a bigger apartment, but I'm not sure how easy it would be for me to find work."  
"You live with your sisters?"  
"Oh, yeah. It's just been us ever since Dad got arrested."  
And, once again, the conversation was brought to a screeching halt. All Hilda could muster in response to that was a small, drawn out "uh…"  
"Is something wrong?" He looked up at her- and she only then noticed, that this whole time, he hadn't been looking at her. He had been looking down at the table, even though he mostly hadn't seemed upset or anything.  
Either way, he apparently hadn't fully realized why the conversation had stopped. Hilda had a chance to save it!  
Instead, though, she asked, "What did he get arrested for?" before immediately mentally cursing herself, because that was probably the worst question she could ask.  
"Child abuse." N was looking down again, and started tapping his fingers on the table.  
"Oh. I, um, I'm sorry."  
"It's okay."  
Usually, at this point in such a trainwreck of a conversation, Hilda would have already finished her coffee and politely taken her leave, but for some reason she didn't understand, she wanted to stay, and talk to him, and save this terrible, awkward, conversation.  
… Okay, maybe she did know the reason. This guy was _hot_.  
She started running through ways to salvage this in her head. What was the one thing she could say, the one question she could ask, that wouldn't make this worse?  
"So what's your favorite Pokemon?"  
N's eyes immediately lit up. "Zoroark! My Zoroark is my best friend! I mean, I don't play favorites with my friends, but, you know…"  
He went on, mostly talking about why Zoroark was a great Pokemon, but Hilda mostly focused on his first few sentences- it was just such an odd thing to say. His "friends"? Was he talking about his Pokemon? If he didn't like trainers, why did he have a Zoroark? Most people didn't keep rare, evolved Pokemon as simple pets.  
Hilda had talked to N for, maybe 10 minutes now, and she already had so many questions. N was a fascinating person, wasn't he?  
"... And that's why Zoroark's illusions are one of the coolest things Pokemon are capable of doing." It sounded like he was done with his spiel, so Hilda nodded.  
“‘Yeah, Zoroark is really cool. You’re really passionate about Pokemon, aren’t you?”  
“I am. Pokemon are my friends.” Huh. So he was talking about his Pokemon when he mentioned his friends earlier. “I think they’re beautiful creatures. Every last one of them.”  
Hilda refrained from asking him, “Even Garbodor?” because she got the feeling his response would be a resounding yes and a speech on all of Garbodor’s good qualities.  
Even so, she didn’t want the conversation to end- but when she looked up at the clock and realized how much more time had passed than she thought, she sighed and decided she had to go.  
She stood up. “Well, I guess I should go home now.”  
“Oh. Okay.”  
“It was nice talking to you. We should hang out again soon!”  
N looked up at her, and smiled. “I would like that.”  
Hilda nodded at him, and then started walking out, feeling only slightly embarrassed by how poorly that conversation began.  
On her way, she passed by Chili- one of the three owners of the cafe, and her personal friend.  
“You like him, don’t you, Hilda?” He said as she walked by.  
She scoffed. “No way.” She walked a little faster, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing her blushing bright red.

**Author's Note:**

> [walks in to the this ship 8 years late with starbucks and a weird au]  
> Idk if the BW fandom is at all active anymore but if you're reading this hey! I really hope you liked it, and I hope I can continue this soon!


End file.
